


Safe Spaces

by LizWrites686, sadgaynerd



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, M/M, changbin doesn't know how feelings work, felix is the confident gay to bins panicked gay, side woochan, they're awkward art nerds in love, this started out kinda crack and got emo, truly a shit show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-05-18 16:05:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14855879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizWrites686/pseuds/LizWrites686, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sadgaynerd/pseuds/sadgaynerd
Summary: Every class followed the same pattern: sit like a normal person and try to learn, doodle all over notes that made no sense, check for cell service to no avail, give up on productivity and do something better, and escape to the art room when it’s time to do labs.Hiding in the art room meant cell phone service, no dealing with Ohm’s law or whatever the hell Mr. Park was rambling on about, and most importantly Felix.





	1. Chapter 1

_Physics._ The bane of every high schooler’s life... or at least the bane of Changbin’s existence.

If the teacher were to say something he would move, but until then Changbin was perfectly content sitting atop his desk using the wall as a backrest, sketchbook in his lap and numerous pens scattered around. This seat truly wasn’t ideal for observing his teacher’s endless (not to mention pointless) demonstrations, but it was by an outlet and it was comfortable. He wasn’t going to learn anything regardless of his location in the cramped classroom. He caught the occasional word or phrase from the teacher but lost motivation to actually pay attention months ago. He knew he would regret it when the test came, but the internet would forever be a better teacher. Spending the night before hastily googling physics concepts and scribbling them onto a notecard got him a decent enough score.  _If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it._ So his internal monologue of worrying about grades died down, and he returned to sketching.

The physics classroom was located in the Bermuda Triangle of cell phone service leaving every class to follow the same pattern: sit like a normal person and try to learn, doodle all over notes that made no sense, check for cell service to no avail, give up on productivity and do something better, and escape to the art room when it’s time to do labs. Hiding in the art room meant cell phone service, no dealing with Ohm’s law or whatever the hell Mr. Park was rambling on about, and most importantly Felix.

Felix was the cute art TA the period that Bin had physics. To say Changbin admired him from afar would be an understatement. Changbin would get the occasional text from him asking for help with math homework and both spent as much time in the art room as possible.

“Yo, come on dude,” Chan said, hitting the boy lightly on the knee to get his attention as he walked by heading towards the back of the room, “Do you have any fuckin’ idea how to do this lab?” Chan made up one third of his lab group and paid even less attention in class than Changbin. Luckily for both of them, Hyunjin, who was already at the lab tables connecting circuits, actually tried when it came to physics and was skilled at deciphering Mr. Park’s confusing labs.

“No sir, I do not. When do I ever know what’s going on in this class? You think I understand any of this shit?” A glare shot from his teacher, “luckily we have this nerd to help us out,” he muttered a little quieter, enveloping Hyunjin in a side hug. “So buddy, what the hell are we doing?”

“And you’d be failing without the help of ‘this nerd’ so be grateful, this isn’t that hard and half of it is common sense,” Hyunjin slid his paper over towards the two, letting them copy the impressive amount of work, “Plus I found most of it on google during one of Park’s tangents.”

“This is why you’re the smart one Jinnie,” Chan loved to annoy them with these nicknames, “Hey Binnie,” _‘don’t call me that!’_ “this means you’ll have time to sneak away and drool over that TA.” One thing Changbin was not, was subtle so Chan knew about Felix almost as soon as Changbin did. His cheeks grew red and he jokingly hit Chan on his arm, too flustered to come up with a snarky reply.

They finished up the lab with time to spare thanks to Hyunjin who did a good 93% of the work. Changbin grabbed his sketchbook and booked it out of the class without even bothering to sign out or grab the mangled, laminated neon pink hall pass hanging on the door.

He made his way to the art room with one stop to get skittles from the vending machine. He gave a nod to Ms. P, who knew by now not to question when he showed up, grabbed his mug and a teabag from his art locker along the back wall. While waiting for the microwave to heat up his water, he took his regular seat at Ms. P’s desk and put his feet up on the table carefully to avoid messing up any art projects waiting to be graded. Not only was it the comfiest seat in the room, but it was next to the table where TA’s sat. Felix was making a huge mess of ink and paint trying to do paint pours, an assignment their teacher gave all the TAs. She was desperate for examples to show the Art 1 kids.

Watching Felix do art fascinated Changbin, his style was messy and experimental but he put so much care into every mark he made. When he was really focused he would hold his breath to ensure no mistakes would be made, causing the corners of Changbin’s mouth to rise. His thoughts were disrupted by the ding of the microwave. His steps were rushed, which caused Felix to look up, on his way back he heard a voice call for his attention..

“Hey Changbin? Before ya take a seat again, can you help me out?” Felix’s voice made Changbin melt... and spill some tea on the table.

“Ye-Yea, ‘course, whatchya need Felix? _” ‘Take a deep breath, you’re f i n e’_

“Can you reach into my back pocket and grab my phone? I’d do it but ya know,” he held up his hands, which were coated in yellow paint. “I can feel it ringing and I need to know if it’s someone that matters.”

“No that’s okay, can you put it on the table for me?” Felix struggled to blow the hair out of his face while Changbin slowly put his phone down, “Hey I’ve always wanted to ask this since you always end up in here this block,” Changbin pulled the comfy chair over an took a seat next to Felix, “don’t you have a class you should be in? I know they don’t give free periods this time and if you had a study hall I bet you’d be in here the whole time.” The blonde was mixing together various paints and inks while talking.

“Well technically I should be in Physics, but there’s no reason I need to know physics” He reached over to grab his tea and took a sip.

“I thought you were a math genius, shouldn’t you be like amazing at physics… they tend to go hand in hand.” Changbin’s heart fluttered when Felix complimented him, god he could listen to Felix talk forever.

“Not a math genius per say, but no, not amazing at physics. Actually rather bad at it, I just copy Hyunjin’s labs and come here so I don’t have to put up with more of Mr. Park’s bullshit tangents,” he started to ramble like he always did when he was nervous. “I’d pick here over that class any day of the week, that class is absolutely pointless. Today’s lab answers were even online, so less work than normal. So we got done hella quick and then Chan started teasing me about you which was a dick move on his part, ya know maybe I should just expose his crush, then he’d know what it’s like--” He was mindlessly spinning the chair back and forth when he was cut off.

“Wait… crush?” ‘ _Fuck fuck fuck’_

“Out of all of that, that’s the part you had to pick up on… shit.” Once more he was interrupted with perfect timing. This time by Ms. P telling the class it was time to clean up, “Fuck Park’s gonna beat my ass.” He got up and half sprinted out the door before Felix could say anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

Rushing back into the dreaded classroom, he received yet another dirty look from the teacher. 

“Cuttin’ it a lil close, aren’t we?” Chan laughed while zipping up his book bag.

Changbin resisted his urge to yell out’ _Oh yea, how’s that Woojin crush going, huh?’_ with the mentioned party standing across the room and settled for a simple “Fuck you” before rushing out of the class and to the other side of the school for History.

Much to his relief, Changbin didn’t have any classes with either Chan or Felix for the rest of the day; it was a Friday so he was safe from addressing the situation until monday. So the remainder of his day was spent focused on class more than his massive fuck up. 

When he got home, he muttered a brief greeting to his family, kissing his mother on the cheek and grabbing a glass of water before running to his room. His mother shook her head at his urgency, but assumed he just had homework he needed to focus on.

Changbin settled on his bed, signing at the effort. Without school to distract him his mind began to drift. Today was a whirlwind of a disaster in his mind, everything was a mess and Felix- the almighty Felix, now knew about his crush. God why didn’t he just stay quiet, then- * _ding*_

 

TEXT FROM- Chan the Man.

“hey bin, did you get the physics shit hyunjin emailed us??”

TEXT TO- Chan the Man.

“Who even uses email these days dude?? I’ll check it later”

“Also… i might have accidently told Lix about my mild crush???”

 

The next second his phone was ringing: “Oh my god you absolute idiot, what the hell? How in hell did you do that?! Spill the goddamn tea, and don’t spare a single detail, i wanna know everything” 

“Well…. I was nervous and cornered and he's really cute so i rambled on and on and on and i said i maybe liked him?” 

“You, my friend, are an absolute idiot. How the hell could you ‘accidentally’ confess to your crush of 3 months?”

“I’m an idiot, leave me be dude,” he was about to blame the situation on Chan’s mockery but was interrupted by a text. “Shit i have to go, my mom is wanting us to go for dinner with her new boss.”

“Lmao have fun man, don’t forget - get the most expensive thing if the boss is paying.”

He hung up and tossed his phone on the bed next to him and sighed. Changbin honestly couldn’t have cared less about this dinner, but it meant a lot to his mother, so he put on a nice face and was ready to make meaningless small talk on her behalf.

The restaurant was small but nice, a shitty little French place he had only been to a few times. He was probably the youngest person there, clearly it was primarily frequented by ancient people. He started to scan the room for any sign of life below the age of forty when- _oh god, oh FUCK, of course with my luck_.

A man in a nice suit was waving over to them, and next time him was the one, the only Lee fucking Felix. Immediately Changbin took out his phone to text Chan.

 

TEXT TO- Chan the Man.

“HOLY FUCK CODE RED, you’ll nEvER guess who my mom’s boss is…”

TEXT FROM- Chan the Man.

“how would I know dude? superman? christian grey?? That one dude from that one thing,,, gimme a hint”

TEXT TO- Chan the Man.

“Try the father of the guy I completely embarrassed myself in front of…”

“Lee fucking Felix’s dad is my mom’s boss, and he’s HERE code RED! SAVE MEEEEEE”

 

He took a seat before his ringer went off again, the one next to Felix was the only one open.

 

TEXT FROM- Chan the Man.

“lmao rip in peace dude, good luck, be safe, use protection x”

 

He silenced his phone and put it back in his pocket. He wasn’t paying attention to the conversation but nodded and laughed along with everyone else to create the illusion of caring.

“So Changbin, what do you like to do at school?”

Changbin was shook by his thoughts by the question, everyone at the table focusing on him. He had successfully avoided conversing with anyone so far that night, only speaking to say his order. Until now.

“Um… well… I-”

“He likes art. He helps me out enough with it, god knows I’m not even talented enough to draw a stick figure!” Felix interrupted, cracking a joke at his own expense to save Changbin, who was clearly uncomfortable. Changbin looked over at Felix who was laughing along with all the elders but sneaking looks at Bin out of the corner of his eye.

The rest of the night was spent with jokes Changbin didn’t fully understand, and small talk between the adults. Felix seemed used to the mindless chatter, adding to the conversation when necessary and starting new topics when the conversation lulled.

Soon enough, the adults were talking about work topics, and Felix leaned over to Changbin.

“You’re welcome.”

Changbin was shocked, too shocked to notice Felix smirking as he got comfortable again in his chair.

“Oh, um yea, thanks,” Changbin said, not looking up from his plate, “You’re wrong you know…”

“About what? The fact I saved your ass or the fact you’re amazing at art? Cause I think I nailed both pretty well.”

“While you are wrong about my art, you’re more wrong about your own, you are talented, you should embrace it. You can draw more than just a stick figure and we both know it” Changbin was wringing his fingers, nervous about even speaking about his own art, never mind someone else's. His neck started to slowly heat up as Felix stared at him, a slight smile on his face.

Changbin’s mom interrupted the two, “You guys are probably pretty bored at this point. Why don’t you boys go next door and get dessert or something to save yourselves from boring business talk.” She smiled at the pair before returning to the work talk, diving right in, leaving no room for any discussion.

 

Felix stood up and started walking out of the restaurant, with a panicked Changbin following him. Felix was walking like he owned the place while Changbin followed, trying to fall into himself so he didn’t have to face anyone. 

While Changbin was checking the last text Chan sent, Felix was ordering them a sundae to split. They sat at a small table next to the window in a heavy silence. “So um, did you ever figure out the paint pours?” Changbin tried to break the silence, “I tried to do one, but I couldn’t get it to work and made more of a mess than a masterpiece.”

“Everything you seem to do ends up as a masterpiece, so I doubt that.” The two droned on about various art techniques and styles, complimenting one another’s projects and ideas. They talked until Felix got a text from his father saying they had finished, “We should start heading back, you gotta finish this,” Felix said, gesturing towards the last few bites of ice cream remaining and he happily obliged. Felix began giggling to himself, but wasn't subtle.

“What? What did I do wrong?”

“You, um, here” Felix leaned forward, “Lemme help you with that.” He leaned closer still, so close that Bin could start to smell his cologne and the chocolate sauce drizzled over the ice cream. Changbins heart was going haywire, Felix was starting to get far too close and then- “Ah, there we go!”

Felix wiped the ice cream and sauce from under Changbins lip and pulled back, quickly licking his finger clean without realizing. Changbins ears had started to heat up, he was trying not to gasp at what had just happened. Felix was already leaving the store when Changbin left his seat, still trying to process what had happened.

They parted ways after a rushed goodbye, Changbin was silent the entire drive home. _Had Felix really done that?! That was flirting right? Right…_

 

Chan the Man: So how was the date ;)

Squirrel: Date?!?!

Chan the Man: our lil binnie is all grown up and breaking hearts, oh lil binnie you do have a heart afterall

Binniebinniechangbinnie: Holy dang Jisung (chan i’m ignoring you), Lix was at dinner with me and my mom, details unimportant

Squirrel: The infamous Felix?!

Binniebinniechangbinnie: so my mom was trying to play matchmaker as she does, and sent us to go get ice cream, and we talked for like an hour AND HES SO F UC KING HOT

Binniebinniechangbinnie: and i kinda got ice cream like on my chin and HE FUCKING WIPED IT OFF AND LICKED HIS FINGER TELL ME THATS FLIRTING

Squirrel: Oooooh boy getchyu some

Chan the Man: first of all, ouch rude, second yes that would be considered flirting so d8 him

 

He got a notification ‘Lix is typing…’


	3. Chapter 3

Changbin clicked on the notification before realizing how eager that made him look. Felix was still typing so he clicked out of the chat and waited a minute after it showed he had sent it.

“Hey Bin,” Changbin didn’t mind the nickname for once, “thanks for tonight, it was a lot better than most of those dinners I get dragged to…” A smile spread it’s way across Changbin’s face as he read the message, Felix was being so adorable it made Changbin want to hug him. 

TEXT TO- Lix  
“Honestly, without you I would’ve died ;-;”  
“Also, i need to talk to u about something please”

TEXT FROM- Lix  
“Sure yea I’ll call ya :)”

Before Changbin could even finish reading the message, his phone started to ring:  
“So Binnie, I’m all ears”

“You love those nicknames don’t you.”

“Yes, yes I do! So what did ya wanna talk about?”

“It’s just um about what I said earlier,” he hoped Felix would interrupt and ease his worries, but he said quiet. “About the crush thing I mentioned?” 

“Oh, Changbin listen,” his heart sank into his stomach, “I have a boyfriend, I am so sorry. I just can’t do that to him, I care about Eric too much to hurt him.”

Fuckfuckfuck why did I have to fucking say anything “I shouldn’t have said anything, just ignore… please.” With that he hung up the phone, too scared and heartbroken to listen to Felix’s voice for another second.

TEXT FROM- Lix  
“Changbin dont apoligse. It's my fault for leading you on, i shouldnt have. Im sorry”

 

 

Changbin spent the majority of the following week focused on avoiding Felix, which meant sitting through an entire physics class without escape. Little to his surprise, the class was a waste of his time, his teacher rambled on about things that had nothing to do with physics. 

He missed Felix.

They never talked much outside of the hour a day in art and the occasional homework help, but he missed it. He missed the way Felix’s eyes would light up when he was talking about things he was passionate about. He even missed the dumb nicknames. But none of that mattered Felix has a boyfriend.

So he suffered through Mr. Park’s tangents. Luckily Changbin had the upcoming exam to keep his mind off of Felix at least temporarily.

Chan and Jisung helped a little bit, they kept Changbin busy as best they could and Felix gave him the space he wanted.

Except he didn’t genuinely want the space. He wanted to have Felix near him. No matter how much he tried to convince himself this was for the best, Changbin needed to have Felix in his life, even if it meant suffering through the fact he had a boyfriend and didn’t feel the same about him. 

He held off on talking to him until after his exam for the sake of his forever worsening grade and did semi decent. That night he knew he needed to rip off the bandaid. So he called the boy he missed. Felix answered almost immediately. 

“Hey Felix, I miss-” he was cut off by the sound of the other crying, “Hey what’s wrong? C’mon Lix just talk to me, what’s going on?”

“God you’re the last person who needs to hear my problems but I need someone to talk to-“

“No, don’t say that, I’m here for you.”

“I just,” he could barely get through a sentence without breaking down into sobs, “I don’t know how I’m supposed to keep doing this Bin.” 

“Felix just breathe, I’m on my way over I’ll be there in a second I promise.” He grabbed his keys and threw on an old hoodie, “I’m coming.”

“Ok-okay” He hung up.

Changbin hadn’t been to his house since they did a project freshman year, but he remembered the way easily. Felix was standing on the porch in sweats and a white tank top with tears streaming down his face, when he saw Changbin’s old beat up car he ran towards the passenger door and climbed inside.

“Please just drive anywhere, I don’t wanna be here anymore,” he mumbled as he fastened his seat belt. 

They sat in silence as Changbin drove, Felix curled up into a ball in the seat and tried to muffle his crying. The radio played a calm familiar song that Changbin couldn’t name. 

He drove until he stumbled upon a playground. Felix was slowly calming down so he stopped the car and got out. As he walked around to open the other door, he took off his hoodie to offer to the other. 

“So are you gonna tell me what’s going on?” he said as he handed him the jacket which was gladly received. 

He wiped the tears off his cheeks and slipped into the hoodie, “I guess I owe you an explanation, don’t I?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back! So ye HMU on tumblr @softspearb if you wanna yell at me about this


	4. Chapter 4

The two made their way out of the car and over to an old swing set. 

“You don’t owe me anything after how I’ve been avoiding you,” his voice trailed off as he swayed side to side, “I’m… sorry about that by the way.”

“You don’t have to do that Bin.” Felix said as they continued swinging.  
“Do what?”

“Apologize for shit,” Felix looked down at his feet, “You apologize a lot, ya know? Not everything is your fault.”

He did know far too well, “It’s just easier that way, apologizing rather than sticking up for myself. Its habit at this point, but I really am sorry about the last few weeks.” 

Felix looked over at Changbin for the first time since crawling into his car. He could see the dried tears on his face lit up by the single street light. 

Felix gave him a confused look before replying, “I’m the one who led you on.” 

“So what happened tonight? For real?” Changbin blurted out the question, trying to change the subject. 

Felix laughed to himself, “I needed to get away from it all. Running away from my problems seems easier than dealing with them, stupid right?” Changbin made a brief sound of protest before he continued, “Everyone fights in my house. It’s so shit but they won't stop fighting even if I yell at them to stop. So i give up and let them go at each other with a bloodthirst. Sometimes it escalates and someone gets hit but who cares as long as it's hidden and we don’t speak of it, right?” 

He had never told this to anyone, not even his boyfriend. His escape driver was an exception, talking to Changbin was so effortless, so easy. He could see the pity in Changbin’s eyes, which was the last thing he wanted. He could handle his problems himself and he didn’t need other people to feel bad for him. 

Changbin was glued to his swing as Felix explained, not even the breeze dared to move as he dived into the story of the heartbreak and pain. Changbin started to wonder about his own life, he had it pretty easy. Two parents that loved each other, sure there was fighting sometimes but it never lasted long or resulted in anything hurt beyond feelings. 

As Felix continued, his eyes focused on the ground, Changbin reached over and placed his hand over his own which was beginning to quiver. He looked up and his eyes met Changbin’s, “Normally I’d just lock myself in my room and stay out of the way, but then you called and it was an escape… at least for a little while.”

“Ya know we’ll stay out as long as you need, you shouldn’t have to deal with that shit and I’m so sorry Felix.” 

“I don’t talk about this stuff ever, it compromises the ‘cool guy’ image I got going for me,” he joked, “Can we just not talk about it anymore? At least for now.”

Changbin agreed and the two sat in comfortable silence for a few moments before Felix stood up and practically dragged Changbin back to the car by his hand.

“As long as we’re out, I think we need ice cream,” He said with a sudden change of emotion, “It solves all of life’s problems you know.”

Any attempt at saying no to Felix was hopeless. Changbin had to admit to himself that he was very much not over his crush. He knew Felix was with someone and he wasn’t gonna get in the way of that, but he could still be friends with him, right? There’s no harm in friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank yall for putting up with my inconsistency with uploads, as always come talk to me @softspearb on tumblr or comment on here! Also what're yalls thoughts on I am WHO?


End file.
